Heating or cooling system

ABSTRACT

In a heating or cooling system having a heat generator or a cooler, with a pump, a distributor for distributing the heating or cooling carrier medium to the heating or cooling surfaces, and possibly further heat or cold transmitting elements, having a collector for collecting the heating or cooling carrier medium from the heating or cooling surfaces, and possibly from further heat or cold transmitting elements, and having a flow control valve, a flow control valve is disposed in each heating or cooling circuit for increasing the control accuracy of the room temperature control system, wherein the flow control valves are disposed on the distributor or collector.

The present invention relates to a heating or cooling system with a distributer and/or a collector for the distribution of the heating or cooling medium on the respective heating or cooling surfaces according to the preamble of claim 1.

Often, such heating or cooling systems feature several heating or cooling circuits whereby valves are used to pre-set the flow of the heating or cooling medium. Additionally, in the respective heating or cooling circuits, thermostat valves are provided (for the regulation of the flow of the heating or cooling medium dependent on the room temperature) and/or valves which regulate the return temperature. All of these valve configurations are ultimately resulting in a variety of different flow patterns of the heating or cooling medium in the various heating or cooling circuits. That is because, dependent on the respective valve opening, different levels of flow resistance are opposing the pumped heating or cooling medium.

Furthermore, such heating or cooling systems often feature additional heat or cold exchangers in the form of heating or cooling elements with additional room thermostat valves, where the flow of the heating or cooling medium in turn is designed differently from the flow through the heating or cooling circuits.

A heating or cooling system according to the preamble of claim 1 is shown in DE 196 50 892 C2. The various levels of flow resistance in the different heating or cooling circuits and, where required, in the additional heating or cooling elements, are in each case resulting in different compression ratios, which in the end are leading to different flow ratios of the heating or cooling medium. These complicate the pre-setting of the desired flow of the heating and/or cooling medium as well as the control (which depends on the room and/or return-flow temperature) of the heating or cooling medium flow, to the point that it can result in considerable and permanent differences in the room temperature.

It is known that in order to prevent these disadvantages a flow control valve needs to be integrated into the flow line between the pump and the distributor or into the return line between the collector and the mixer. However, this one flow control valve can only regulate the total flow of the heating or cooling medium through the entire heating or cooling system. Thus, it is not possible in this manner to control the flow of the heating or cooling medium throughout the individual heating or cooling circuits and, where required, throughout the additional heating or cooling elements.

It is the objective of the invention to create a heating or cooling system which makes it possible to control the flow in the individual heating or cooling circuits and, where required, in the additional heating or cooling elements, while keeping assembly and installation of the said system cost-effective.

This objective is achieved with the heating or cooling system according to the invention. Here a flow control valve is integrated in each heating or cooling circuit, and this flow control valve is located at the distributer or at the collector. Whereby, according to claim 2, the flow control valves are inventively located at the flow side heating or cooling circuit connection of the distributor. According to claim 3, the flow control valves are inventively located at the return side heating or cooling circuit connection of the collector.

With these measures a heating or cooling system is created which makes it possible to pre-set the flow of the heating or cooling medium and to regulate this flow independent of the pressure. With the integration of the flow control valves (which ultimately react to the pressure of the heating or cooling medium) at the distributer or collector the assembly and installation cost will not increase. There will be no need to access the parts of the heating or cooling circuits that will be inaccessible after the installation of the said system.

According to the invention, the respective flow pressure valve is integrated in the flow side heating or cooling circuit connection of the distributor.

For the collector the valve is integrated into the return side heating or cooling circuit connection. Thereby the appropriate pre-assembled units, comprised of distributer and flow control valve and/or collector and flow control valve, can be used for the final installation on-site. Thus the assembly and installation will remain cost-effective.

Additional advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are the result of the characteristics of the dependent patent claims 4 to 9.

For instance, it is advantageous to design the flow control valves with an adjustment wheel for the simple adjustment of the desired flow. This device permits the user to make easy and fast adjustments, so that the needed flow speed can be achieved. A further advantageous embodiment results from a blocking device which is integrated into the flow control valve. This said blocking device permits the user to block the heating or cooling circuits as needed. Furthermore, it is advantageous to cover the adjustment with a protective cover in order to prevent unwanted changes to the pre-determined flow rate of the heating or cooling medium. On the other hand, the distributor and/or the collector can feature an additional manual blocking cap in order to disconnect the flow of the heating or cooling medium. Another particularly advantageous possibility is to furnish the distributor and/or collector with a thermostat valve head by which it is possible to pre-set the desired room temperature or return flow temperature. This even further reduces the time and effort needed for assembly and installation. Additionally, in place of the thermostat valve head, an actuator can be used for the regulation of the desired room temperature and/or return-flow temperature.

Embodiments of the heating or cooling system, the distributors, and the collectors are illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. They are closer explained in the following:

It is shown in:

FIG. 1 a schematic illustration of a heating or cooling system with a distributor and a collector,

FIG. 2 a distributor of a heating or cooling system, and in

FIG. 3 a collector of a heating or cooling system.

In FIG. 1 the heating or cooling system features a heat or cold generator (10) which is connected to an agitator (12). The heating or cooling medium if directed across a supply line (18) from an agitator (12) via a pump (14) to a distributor (16). Outgoing form this distributor (16) are two heating or cooling circuit connectors (32) which are leading to the heating or cooling surfaces (24, 26).

In FIG. 1 only the left heating or cooling circuit is schematically shown in detail, so that the actual heating and/or cooling surface (26), a room thermostat valve (28), and a return flow temperature blocking valve (30) can be seen.

The heating and/or cooling medium of the heating or cooling circuit (24) is directed back via return side heating or cooling circuit connectors (34) to a collector (20). The collector (20) is hydraulically connected to the agitator (12) via a return line (22).

In addition to these standard components of a surface heating or cooling system, the heating and cooling system that is shown in FIG. 1 features for each of the heating or cooling circuits (24) a flow control valve (36). Thereby the flow control vale (36) for the heating or cooling circuit (24), which in FIG. 1 is shown on the right side, is located at distributor (16) of the said heating or cooling system that is in the flow side heating or cooling circuit connection (32) of the said distributor (16). For the heating and cooling circuit, which in FIG. 1 is shown on the left, this flow control valve (36) is located at collector (20) that is at is at the flow side heating or cooling connection (32) of the said collector (20). These are the two possible options according to the invention, namely one on the flow side and the other one on the return side.

These flow control valves make it possible to pre-set the flow of the heating or cooling medium throughout the various heating or cooling circuits (24). Thus the respective pre-set flow rate of the heating or cooling medium in the individual heating or cooling circuits (24) can be regulated unrelated to the pressure of the heating or cooling medium in the distributor (16) and/or in the collector (20).

Component parts in FIG. 2, which are identical or which operate in the same manner, are identified by the same reference numerals than in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, next to the distributor (16), which is shown as a tubular structure, the flow line (18) can be seen, which is hydraulically connected with the distributor (16). Visible are also the respective heating or cooling circuit connectors (32) which are pictured schematically as well. Each of these flow side heating or cooling circuit connectors (32) has a flow control valve (36) assigned, which is screwed into the distributor (16) and which, as it is shown in FIG. 2 on the top side, makes the respective pre-setting of the desired flow rate possible.

Component parts in FIG. 3, which are identical or which operate in the same manner, are identified by the same reference numerals than in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this FIG. 3 the collector (20) is shown as a continuous line which is on the one side schematically connected to the return line (22) and which is connected hydraulically to the return side heating or cooling circuit connectors (34). The flow control valves (36) are covered on the left side of FIG. 3 by a protective cap (38), in the middle of FIG. 3 by a manually adjustable cap (40), and on the right side of FIG. 3 by a thermostat valve head (42); thus they cannot be shown graphically.

Herby the protective cap (38) protects the flow valve (36) from accidental alterations of the pre-set flow rate. In contrast, with the manually adjustable cap (44) [Translator's note: In the previous paragraph 40] the flow of the heating or cooling medium can be manually shut off. Additionally, the thermostat valve head is used to pre-set the desired room temperature or the desired return flow temperature of the heating or cooling medium. 

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A heating or cooling system comprising: a heat and/or cold generator; a pump; a distributor for the distribution of a heating and/or cooling medium to at least two heating and/or cooling surfaces; a collector for the collection of the heating and/or cooling medium from the heating and/or cooling surfaces through at least two heating and/or cooling conductors; a flow control valve in each of at least two heating or cooling circuits, said flow control valve being located at the distributor or at the collector.
 11. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said flow control valve being located in the flow side heating or cooling circuit connection of the distributor.
 12. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said flow control valve being located in the return side heating or cooling circuit connection of the collector.
 13. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said flow control valve including a device to pre-set the desired flow rate.
 14. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said flow control valve including a device for blocking.
 15. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said flow control valve being covered by a protective cap.
 16. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said heating or cooling circuits include a manual blocking device.
 17. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said heating and cooling circuits including a thermostat valve head to pre-set the desired temperature of the room and of the return-flow.
 18. The heating or cooling system according to claim 10, further comprising said heating and cooling circuits including electric and hydraulic actuators to pre-set the desired room temperature or return flow temperature and/or for shutoff.
 19. A temperature control apparatus having at least two circuits for distribution of a medium for heating or cooling, said temperature control system comprising: a pump: a distributor: a collector: a first circuit having a first temperature control surface, a first distribution conductor and a first collection conductor, said circuit being downstream of said distributor and upstream of said collector: a second circuit having a second temperature conduction surface, a second distribution conductor and a second collection conductor, said second circuit being downstream of said distributor and upstream of said collector: said pump, said distributor, said collector, said first circuit and said second circuit being an operative communication to distribute the medium in each of said circuits; and a flow control valve in at least one of said first or second circuits, said flow control valve being located in one of said distribution conductor or said collection conductor.
 20. The system of claim 19 further comprising a second flow control valve in the other of said first circuit or said second circuit, second flow control valve being located in one of said second distribution conductor or of said second collection conductor.
 21. The system of claim 19 further comprising said flow control valve being substantially at said distributor.
 22. The system of claim 19 further comprising said flow control valve being substantially at said collector.
 23. The heating or cooling system according to claim 19, further comprising said flow control valve including a device to pre-set the desired flow rate.
 24. The heating or cooling system according to claim 19, further comprising said flow control valve including a device for blocking.
 25. The heating or cooling system according to claim 19, further comprising said flow control valve being covered by a protective cap.
 26. The heating or cooling system according to claim 19, further comprising said heating or cooling circuits include a manual blocking device.
 27. The heating or cooling system according to claim 19, further comprising said heating and cooling circuits include a thermostat valve head to pre-set the desired temperature of the room and of the return-flow.
 28. Heating or cooling system according to claim 19, wherein the heating and cooling circuits include electric and hydraulic actuators to pre-set the desired room temperature or return flow temperature and/or for shutoff. 